Michelle Khine Named Finalist for 2011 World Technology Award for Materials

Michelle Khine recognized for visionary contribution to science and technology; winner to be announced at United Nations headquarters

The World Technology Network (WTN) has announced that Assistant Professor Michelle Khine, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been named a finalist for the prestigious World Technology Award for Materials. The Award is presented by the WTN in association with TIME, Fortune, CNN, Science/American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Technology Review. Khine joins a roster of individuals and organizations from over 60 countries around the world deemed to be doing the most innovative and impactful work.

Since 2000, the World Technology Awards have been presented by the WTN as a way to honor those in 20 different categories of science and technology and related fields. Nominees for the 2011 World Technology Awards were selected by the WTN Fellows (winners and finalists from previous annual award cycles in the individual award categories) through an intensive, global process lasting many months. Winners will be selected from among the finalists with the recommendations of a select group of prominent advisors and will be announced in a ceremony at the United Nations in New York City on the evening of October 26 at the close of the World Technology Summit, a two-day “thought leadership” conference held at the TIME & LIFE Building.

“The recognition of being selected as a finalist for a World Technology Award in Materials is such an incredible honor,” said Khine. “I feel so deeply humbled to be included in this group of finalists, who are my heroes and role models!"

Khine is the scientific founder of Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc. and also co-founded Fluxion Biosciences, Inc. while she was a graduate student at UC Berkeley. Prior to arriving at The Henry Samueli School of Engineering in 2009, she was an assistant and founding professor at UC Merced (2006-09). Khine received her B.S. and M.S. from UC Berkeley in mechanical engineering (1999 and 2001, respectively) and her Ph.D., under the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Distinguished Professor Luke P. Lee, in bioengineering (2005) from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco. In 2009, Khine was named one of Forbes “Revolutionaries” and one of Technology Review’s “35 Innovators Under 35 (TR35).” Earlier this year, Fast Company Magazine named her as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” and most recently, she was awarded the National Institutes of Health (NIH) New Innovator's Award.

"This year we are more eager than ever to pay tribute to the talent and innovation of our individual and corporate honorees," says James P. Clark, founder and chairman of the WTN. "Through the peer-nomination and peer-review process, we uncover the best of the best of the best in science and technology. We discover whose work is going to have the greatest likely impact over time. The World Technology Awards give a snapshot of the amazing science and technology revolutions in process.” Clark adds “The World Technology Awards program is not only a very inspiring way to identify and honor the most innovative people and organizations in the technology world, but it also is a truly disciplined way for the WTN membership to identify those who will formally join them, as individual WTN Fellows or Corporate Members, as part of our global community. By working to make useful connections among our members, we look forward to assisting Michelle Khine in continuing to help create our collective future and change our world.”

The WTN is a curated membership community comprised of the world’s most innovative individuals and organizations in science, technology and related fields. The WTN and its members are focused on exploring what is imminent, possible and important in and around emerging technologies.